On to the next province...

Since my last post a fair amount of things have happened and I'll try my best to remember all that could be exciting, or somehow entertaining! 

The van crew stayed in West Bank (West Kelowna) for a few extra days to do work around the house for Connors relatives. My duties included painting and things of that such. I was lucky enough to get a little girl time on Saturday night where I went out to karaoke and two stepping with Connor's cousin Erin and her friends. I had such a great time meeting new people and being able to make a friend like Erin, who it turns out is also an amazing singer! 

The next day was a lazy day for pretty much everyone. Erin, Wendy and I had really great discussions of many life mysteries that we encounter. We specifically discussed psychics and the idea that body parts could identify your personality or tell your future. I read a book on palm reading and Erin read one on tea leaves and we then attempted to make predictions. It was a lot of fun as I had an interest and attempted to read palms before. 

The next day Erin and I went shopping while the guys finished up their work at the house. I bought these lovely shoes and though it's not overly exciting would you believe they were only $13?! How could I not brag about this steal? After we picked up a few materials for her to teach me how to do spray paint art! It was my first time doing it but it is so much fun and one of the most calming activities I have ever experienced. This is my first one but there will be more to come as I improve! I should have taken some photos of Erin's, hers were so impressive! 

The next morning we left the Kelowna area for a much needed lead into the east. We got to revelstoke in the early evening and decided to stay the night in Revelstoke because we knew some people there. This was an awesome decision because Revelstoke was an amazing time!! I met so many awesome people and the cool thing about Revelstoke is that most people who love there aren't originally from there which was so awesome for meeting a variety of people. We went to a softball game, drank with friends, and closed down the bar! The next morning a few of us decided to go skinny dipping in the river (I'm sorry mom!), which was glacier water, sooo cold but amazingly refreshing. We left Revelstoke that afternoon, as much as we wanted to stay for longer, we needed to head east and avoid being sucked into the Revelstoke vortex. 

We arrived in Calgary later in the evening, having a few stops and push starts during the day. We went right to my brother Jeff and my future sister Kristin's house where they along with a good friend of Jeff's greeted us with drinks and steak, hello 'Berta! Had a great time catching up but made it an early night. Today we spend the majority of the day enjoying Jeff's house, visiting my lovely godmother and her children and also visiting the other vanmates good friend and his lovely wife! 

 I am so thankful for all of the people who have been so genuine and kind to us can dwellers! Everywhere we go I meet people and think there is no way o could possibly meet more amazing people but everywhere we go it happens, thank you amazing people :) 

We should be spending about a well in Calgary doing some work, blog again soon and take care all! (I apologize for spelling and grammar errors, didn't proofread 😬). 

And so it began..

On Tuesday, June 18, 2013 I took a flight from Edmonton to Vancouver to begin my summer journey of crossing Canada in a 1972 Volkswagen van! I arrived at the airport to find my lovely friend Tyler waiting for me where we took the train and then a short walk to Davie Village, where we stayed with some of Tyler's friends. I met Kurt- the owner of the van (so I guess we could say my landlord) and a bunch of other really fun spirited people! The first few days were spent in Vancouver doing some partying and meeting dozen of groovy people who I loved dearly! 

A short while after my arrival Tyler decided to head back to Red Deer, with the ultimate Irish goodbye! A few days after having a blast in Vancouver the bus dwellers/ my vanmates- Kurt, Connor (a guy I went to Red Deer College with who I met in debate club-- yes, that's right, debate club), and I decided to take a day trip to Seattle.  Seattle is not all its cracked up to be; crazy traffic, rained TOO much, and not the most patient and kind people! We were out of the van for a while to explore the city and it only took us about an hour to decide it was time to leave- not without first loading up on vanilla coke and other cheap sodas as my vanmates are crazier about soda than anyone I have met.

That night we were lucky enough to stay at my old friend Tess' house but because of the long journey back our late arrival priced us to throw rocks at a sleeping Tess' window in order to wake the little bear! 

The next morning we heading out to Kelowna early where Tess had a job interview(where she kicked ass!) and we did some delicious beer tasting! We then headed to peach land to take a look at the beautiful scenery and visit some friends. That mighty we camped out in the middle of nowhere, which was great aside from the fact that Connor saw a bear on the way up! Don't worry, we all survived (and we had best spray).  

The next day we headed to a place called Beaverdale (I think?) where we attended an amazing music festival called Bushwack (i believe) that Tess was able to get us all into, as her new company was putting on the festival. Was an awesome time for dancing and I hope I'll be able to attend next year as well! 

The next for days we camped out at Walmart which apparently has a one night limit and got evicted the second day, oops!

After we ending up spending a lot of time at some of Connors amazing relatives who are amazing people and amazing hosts! Finally leaned how to play rummy- not necessarily well though.. 

We decided that it was time for us to make some money so instead of getting up extremely early to work day labour jobs, we decided we would check out the carnival in town to see if they needed extra help, they did. That's right, I was a carny for a little while. As much as I laugh about it I met some really interesting people- some being awesome and some not too much but all very interesting. I was working a game station and found it extremely difficult to take advantage of people as those games often do. So I may not have made a lot of money or done the best job a person may have been able to make I met a lot of people who were so interested in our trip! We ended up not finishing the last day for reason that cannot official leave the van haha. But either way the carny life is not the life for me but was a good experience. 

After the carny days we headed into Kelowna (carnival was in West Bank) where Tess and cool ass roommate (who was one of the people in charge of Bushwack so that was rad) allowed us to do much needed shower and laundry. That was Canada day so we drank a little, or more, then decided to walk done to the fireworks by the waterfront, ate some pachos, and celebrated! 

The next day we went out to Peachland again and soaked up far too many rays as it has been soooo hot here! We all ended up burning a bit, mine being the least severe but that our a bit of a damper on the next few days.

 We returned to West Bank to visit Connors relatives again where one helped us attempted to tune up the van a bit and has decided to put us to work for a few days.